EU facilitates use of mobile phones on ships in European waters

The European Commission has adopted new rules to make it easier for passengers and crew on ships in the EU's territorial waters to make mobile phone calls or send and receive text messages when they are...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 21 Mar 2010 | 4:38 am

Rethinking Sex Offender Laws for Youth Texting

In most states, teenagers who send or receive sexually explicit photographs by cellphone or computer known as sexting have risked felony child pornography charges and being listed on a sex offender registry...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 21 Mar 2010 | 4:28 am

Apple leads the App Store race with 170,000 apps

Spotted on TUAW, this chart from Silicon Alley Insider showing the total number of apps available across various mobile platforms. App Store: 170'000 Google's Android: 30,000 RIM's...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 21 Mar 2010 | 4:15 am

Server Room Smells Can Be an Early Warning

Barence writes "As embarrassing as it may seem, an eggy smell in a server room needn't mean broaching the delicate subject of hygiene with a colleague. It can actually be a signal that something is about to go wrong with your server setup, as this consultant discovered after days of assuming questionable personal habits were to blame. The culprit? An expiring UPS device, sending out its own unique warning signal."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 21 Mar 2010 | 3:03 am

Anti-Gamer South Australian Attorney General Quits

dogbolter writes "South Australian Attorney General, Michael Atkinson, infamous for the banning of R18+ rated games and the censoring of political comment in Australia, has quit. The recent South Australian election provided a massive swing against Atkinson's governing labor party. As a direct result of the South Australian election result, he is standing down. Hopefully someone with half a clue will assume the vacant post and overturn the decision to ban adult oriented computer games."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 21 Mar 2010 | 2:12 am

March equinox 2010: marking the arrival of spring - The Money Times

The Hindu

March equinox 2010: marking the arrival of spring The Money Times The March equinox, the official beginning of spring season in the northern hemisphere, is here. The equinox occurred Saturday at 17:32 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), making the first day of spring. ... The Vernal Equinox Saturday March 20 2010Spreadit.org Earthsky Tonight —The 2010 equinox comes on March 20Berthoud Recorder Old tradition for Spring equinox 2010: burning socks?Christian Science Monitor UK Today News -Seven Sided Cube -Carlsbad Current Argus all 107 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 21 Mar 2010 | 1:58 am

Peter Watts may serve two years for failing to promptly obey a customs officer

I've spent the last day in a funk at the news that my friend, Canadian sf writer Peter Watts was convicted of obstruction for getting out of his car at a US Border crossing and asking what was going on, then not complying fast enough when he was told to get back in the car. He faces up to two years in jail.

David Nickle, a mutual friend who worked with Peter on his defense, has a very good post on the subject, including a quote from one of the jurors:

The job of the jury was to decide whether Mr. Watts "obstructed/resisted" the custom officials. Assault was not one of the charges. What it boiled down to was Mr. Watts did not follow the instructions of the customs agents. Period. He was not violent, he was not intimidating, he was not stopping them from searching his car. He did, however, refuse to follow the commands by his non compliance. He's not a bad man by any stretch of the imagination. The customs agents escalted the situation with sarcasm and miscommunication. Unfortunately, we were not asked to convict those agents with a crime, although, in my opinion, they did commit offenses against Mr. Watts. Two wrongs don't make a right, so we had to follow the instructions as set forth to us by the judge.

That's apparently the statute: if you don't comply fast enough with a customs officer, he can beat you, gas you, jail you and then imprison you for two years. This isn't about safety, it isn't about security, it isn't about the rule of law.

It's about obedience.

Authoritarianism is a disease of the mind. It criminalizes the act of asking "why?" It is the obedience-sickness that turns good people into perpetrators and victims of atrocities great and small.

I don't know if Peter will appeal. I hope he does. I hope he gets a jury who nullify the statute (Thanks to all who reminded me that the appellate division has panels of judges, not juries). I hope he brings a civil action against the officials who clearly played fast and loose with the truth (From David: "Under cross-examination by Mullkoff, the border guards had conceded that Peter hadn't assaulted anyone; hadn't threatened to assault anyone; and that his aggressive stance was nothing any reasonable person would consider aggressive. The allegations that he had somehow choked border guard Andrew Beaudry while Beaudry was hitting him, were demolished.").

I don't know if he will. He may decide to take his chances for a suspended sentence and forswear ever visiting America again, opting to be a writer instead of a professional litigant. I'd understand. But tonight, I'm understanding that dark place that so many of Peter's books seem to come from. I think of myself, fundamentally, as a optimist and a believer that justice can and will prevail. But in the face of that jury's decision, in face of the dishonesty of the officials, in the face of the absurdity of the statute, I feel like justice is a joke and hoping for it is a waste of time.

I'm sorry that the system failed you, Peter.

Guilty

Update: More from Peter

Previously:

• Peter Watts found guilty
• Dr Peter Watts, Canadian science fiction writer, beaten and ...
• Peter Watts's wonderful dystopias under a CC license

Source: Boing Boing | 21 Mar 2010 | 12:39 am

Peter Watts may serve two years for failing to promptly obey a customs officer

I've spent the last day in a funk at the news that my friend, Canadian sf writer Peter Watts was convicted of obstruction for getting out of his car at a US Border crossing and asking what was going on,...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 21 Mar 2010 | 12:39 am

Militant arm of the infoviz movement gets serious about PowerPoint

By Mark Goetz. (Thanks, PeaceLove)
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 21 Mar 2010 | 12:37 am

Militant arm of the infoviz movement gets serious about PowerPoint

By Mark Goetz. (Thanks, PeaceLove)


Source: Boing Boing | 21 Mar 2010 | 12:37 am

A bad federal Internet plan - Deseret News

eCreditDaily.com

A bad federal Internet plan Deseret News You probably haven't heard the term "digital divide" in more than 10 years. That's how long it has been since the federal government talked about its "obligation" to make sure everyone in the nation had access to a computer. ... The Future of American BroadbandTom's Guide TechMan: FCC ignores its own study in plan for Internet futurePittsburgh Post Gazette David Armentrout: Broadband plan could transform W.Va.Charleston Gazette Baltimore Sun -New York Times -Washington Post all 26 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 21 Mar 2010 | 12:17 am

Nintendo Developing DS Apps For School Systems

MojoKid writes "Shigeru Miyamoto, who has had a hand in some of Nintendo's most popular titles, recently offered that he is working hard to turn Nintendo's DS line of handheld gaming machines into tools for schools. The DS already has a nice line of educational software titles that help users learn, and he thinks that this could really be a huge benefit to schools looking for alternative ways to educate students of a new generation. The company has already managed to get them into Japanese elementary schools."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 21 Mar 2010 | 12:08 am

DISH Network Launches New Satellite to Expand Industry's Largest HD Offering

Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 20 Mar 2010 | 10:39 pm

Weekend Update 3/20/10–The Broadband Plan Edition [Digital Daily]

BoomTown traveled to Washington, D.C. this week for festivities surrounding the 25th anniversary of the registration of the first .com domain name, and while in our nation’s capital–in addition to lugging a giant binder containing a paper printout of the National Broadband Plan to various historic spots for educational opportunities–dropped in on Blair Levin, Executive Director of the Plan and Former FCC Exec. Levin shared his thoughts about the scope of the plan and some of the challenges it stands to meet on the way to implementation. Elsewhere, at an event for the .com domain anniversary, former President Bill Clinton gave a keynote that focused, naturally, on health care and global warming. He made up for it, apparently, when he sat down with VeriSign (VRSN) CEO Mark McLaughlin for an entertaining interview. Of course, he probably wasn’t as entertaining as Kathy Griffin–Kara also attended a dinner honoring the star of “My Life on the D List” at which she shared some R-rated Twitter action words.

The release this week of a flood of documents pertaining to the Viacom (VIA)-YouTube lawsuit shed light on a lot of interesting data–and a lot of, uh, not-so-interesting stuff. Peter Kafka was on duty this week to discern the difference, so you don’t have to. Among the highlights: YouTube’s pre-Google (GOOG) finances revealed, the breakdown of how YouTube split up Google’s billions, proof that Viacom wanted to buy YouTube four years ago, and a whole lot of emails, but no smoking gun. It’s all on MediaMemo.

Over on Digital Daily, John Paczkowski wondered if the licensing of its webOS could be a salvation for Palm (PALM), and later in the week, whether its dismal third quarter earnings mean the beginning of the end. Also, John reported that given details revealed Monday morning, Windows Phone 7 could make Microsoft (MSFT) a contender in the mobile OS wars. Microsoft isn’t the only company having a good month, however–Mac sales during February were up 43 percent for the month, after a 36 percent spike in sales during January. Accordingly, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster has declared 2010 the “Year of the Mac.”

On Personal Technology this week, Walt took a look at two new ThinkPads from Lenovo. They’re a departure from Lenovo’s standard template, they sport lower prices and new designs, and they got good grades. Watch Walt’s comprehensive review, then check out his appearance on WSJ’s Digits for more on the new ThinkPads and a discussion of Google’s upcoming foray into television. On Mossberg’s Mailbox, Walt answered readers’ questions about sharing e-books and wiping hard drives. On the Mossberg Solution, Katie Boehret tested Xobni Mobile, an app that generates contact info for everyone a user has ever communicated with in Microsoft Outlook. So far it’s just for BlackBerry, but word is, the company’s considering apps for Android and iPhone.

More next week.

Source: All Things Digital | 20 Mar 2010 | 9:13 pm

Novell Rejects "Inadequate" $2B Takeover Bid

alphadogg writes "Novell's CEO wrote to customers Saturday telling them that the software company has rejected a $2 billion bid by hedge fund Elliott Associates to take it private. He called the offer 'inadequate' and said Novell will review alternatives. Novell has struggled financially even as it has reinvented itself from its NetWare network operating roots into an open source (SUSE and Ximian) and management and security software company. Revenue fell 10% during its most recent fiscal year (wrapped up in October) and its net losses widened. CEO Hovsepian's total compensation fell 17% to $5.7 million."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 20 Mar 2010 | 9:12 pm

"Red Steel 2" videogame an homage to spaghetti westerns

'Liberal' Blog Ad Network Refuses to Advertise SpeakerPelosiHatesThis.com

Made.com Secures $3.75m To Assault Designer Furniture Industry

Challenges for Change Scorecard

Why is this gorgeous backpack Japan-only?

Hello, my name is Devin, and I’m a bagaholic. I can’t get enough. Despite getting my hands on such awesome and varied backpacks as the Mamba Shift, the Soyuz, and the Vandal, not to mention those sweet things from Acme Made back in the day, I can’t help but lust after the latest book-and-laptop receptacle. This time, unfortunately, the rascals have made it only available in Japan. Curses!

I think what attracts me about this thing is those twin steel buckles. As practical as Velcro is, buckles are awesomer, especially when they’re metallic. I must have some magpie in me, because anything shiny like that just entrances me.

In addition to being limited to Japan, this sucker costs a mind-blowing ¥48,825 — over $500, over at Beauty & Youth.. This is why my handlers don’t let me loose in Tokyo with a credit card. I have to be kept on a leash and given quarters, which I save up to spend on gyudon at Yoshinoya. Shameful, I know — but savory.

[via High Snobiety and Doobybrain]

Funny sign in the alley south of Ventura Boulevard in Studio City, CA

A happy sign I spotted in the alley.


Source: Boing Boing | 20 Mar 2010 | 6:23 pm

Funny sign in the alley south of Ventura Boulevard in Studio City, CA

Funny sign in the alley south of Ventura Boulevard in Studio City, CA

Autoscanning The Names People Choose For Their Wireless APs

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Mozilla Engineer Writes Steve Ballmer; Promptly Takes Foot Out Of Mouth

Mozilla platform engineer Rob Sayre has probably had better ideas.

Hoping Microsoft might allow Firefox on their new Windows Phone 7 Series, Sayre wrote an open letter this morning to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. “Hola, amigo. I know it’s been a long time since I rapped at ya,” is how it starts.

He then proceeds to make fun of Windows Phone 7 Series, the iPhone, Cocoa Touch, and Unix — all in three concise paragraphs. He notes that Windows Phone 7 Series has a “busted” UI, calls the iPhone’s UI “ugly jelly beans,” and mocks the “allegedly cool” Cocoa Touch “stuff.”

Once he’s done with all of that, he asks Ballmer to consider making an NDK for Windows Phone. An NDK is a companion tool for an SDK that allows you to build parts of apps in native code. For example, it’s the Android NDK that allows Mozilla to make Firefox for Android.

There’s currently no plans to make an NDK for Windows Phone 7 phones — hence Sayre’s post. Without it, a version of Firefox for the OS is probably unlikely. And that’s may be a good bet anyway, considering Microsoft seems to be pivoting its new phones closer to the iPhone’s closed model rather than Android’s open one.

Sayre’s approach to the post apparently didn’t go over too well — he quickly followed up with an apology post, “Things I’ve Learned.” “Blog posts that sound like Jim Anchower really irritate people for some reason. I won’t do it again, I promise,” he writes.

Bad BitDefender Update Clobbers Windows PCs (PC World)

Top 20 Trends of the Day (Mar 20) - From Fire Hydrant Fashion Shoots to Window Pane Watches (COUNTDOWN)

Pierre Omidyar on eBay and Pez Dispensers, Leaving the Valley and the Most Important Thing He’s Ever Done

It’s almost a cliché that great Silicon Valley entrepreneurs don’t go sit on a beach when they make a lot of money, they get back to work building another company or at least investing in other people’s companies. But what did eBay founder Pierre Omidyar do? Moved to Honolulu where he can be found sitting on beaches.

But don’t let the top line narrative fool you, Omidyar hasn’t just been looking at sunsets all these years. He’s been busy making good on his commitment to give away some 99% of his multi-billion dollar fortune and lately has been launching Peer News, a new kind of online news service that won’t have reporters or articles in the classic sense, nor will it allow anonymous comments or make money off advertising. He’s definitely got at least the media world captivated once again.

eBay, philanthropy and now a local Hawaiian news site may seem like wildly disparate ventures for the same man to take, but as Omidyar explains in the video below they’re all connected by the ideas of platform and community—two words that have also underlined much of the Web 2.0 movement.

Just like eBay was a platform that gave people everywhere the opportunity to build out a business and change their economic reality, so too does the Omidyar Network seek to give passionate, would-be entrepreneurs an opportunity to change their world and their reality. As Omidyar puts it, he doesn’t have a “cause;” he gets excited about other people’s causes. Similarly at eBay he wasn’t a collector, but he loved hearing about other people’s collections.

On community, eBay was one of the first places that pioneered trust online through its reputation and feedback systems. Omidyar is hoping to bring that same kind of trust and fair-dealing to the local news world with Peer News—which is the reason anonymous commenters will not be welcome.

Omidyar talks about all of this and more in the video below, shot in his office in Honolulu. I started out by asking him about that great founders myth that he started eBay so his wife could trade Pez dispensers. (The one people claimed years later was just a good pitch for reporters.)

Novell rejects $2 bln Elliott Associates offer

Every British Citizen To Have a Personal Webpage

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The Windows Phone 7 emulator has already yielded a few treasures—perhaps treasures isn't the right word?—so maybe you're hankering to take a look around yourself. If you're so inclined, Engadget has a nice walk-through of how to get the emulator up and running. If that seems like like too much work, there's a 10 minute video which should give you an overview of the basics. [Engadget] More »

Hunch’s Twitter Predictor Game Is Awesomely Accurate

When I first read about Hunch’s Twitter Predictor game, I was pretty skeptical. The game asks you to put in your Twitter user name and based on who you follow and who you are followed by, it predicts how you will answer questions on Hunch. Then I used it. It’s awesome. Well, pretty awesome.

Out of 35 questions I answer, Hunch correctly predicted by my answer to 32 of them and was only wrong with 3, 91% correct. And these aren’t just “yes” or “no” question, some have several possible answers. In fact, the game got so many right that at first I was sure it was all fake and they were just saying they were going to pick what I eventually did. Then I noticed the “take a peek” link, which tells you before you answer the question how you’re going to answer it.

I also wondered if Hunch was simply predicting how I’d answer based on other Hunch questions I had answered on my account. But actually, the game works even if you’re logged out of your Hunch account.

So yes, the predictor made by new Hunch employee Ben Gleitzman (a former Googler) is very accurate. But then I noticed something. As I played it again in another browser, the game asked the exact same questions. And the first question is always about my age range. So this is likely one of the keys to how the predictor works. Another friend had a series of questions that made it clear she was a woman — likely another key predictor.

I would bet the game is quickly scanning your Twitter followers and getting some obvious topical data, such as age range and sex. Then it uses the aggregate Hunch data that the service has collected over the past several months.

Still, it’s a pretty cool idea. And a great way to show off the data Hunch is collecting. The team answers more about the game here.

Mozilla Labs To Bring Address Book To Firefox

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Google Reconsiders Privacy Practices (PC World)

Facebook News Readers More Loyal Than Googlers (NewsFactor)

SXSW Scenes: Hot Dogs, Hare Krishna and Rock

11 Vivacious Visors - From Tooth Visors to Crotch Caps (CLUSTER)

Ada Lovelace short film for kids

BrainPOP, makers of short educational animations, created this short film based on the life of Ada Lovelace, inventor of computer programming, daughter of Lord Byron, partner-in-crime of Charles Babbage, and horse-fancier.

BrainPOP | Ada Lovelace (Thanks, Karina!)

Modular 3D-printed Gothic cathedral

Gothic Cathedral Play Set by Skimbal (via Make)

New ACTA leak: It's a screwjob for the world's poor countries

New ACTA leaks have emerged this week that fill in the blanks about the remainder of the still-secret treaty. While earlier leaks provided extensive detail on the Internet and civil enforcement chapters, these latest leaks shed new light into the criminal enforcement section, the chapter on ACTA institutional issues, and international cooperation.

The international cooperation chapter includes extensive provisions on capacity building and technical assistance. This is noteworthy since it (1) confirms the vision that developing countries will ultimately be pressured to join ACTA and (2) represents a counter to the developing country focus at WIPO. While WIPO has typically provided this assistance, the emergence of the development agenda has promoted a more balanced approach to technical assistance in developing countries. ACTA seeks to return technical assistance to an enforcement oriented approach.

We've all known that ACTA is a way of writing copyright treaties without having to let poor countries and human rights advocates into the room. We've suspected that poor countries -- who aren't invited to the negotiations -- will be strong-armed into signing onto the treate afterwards.

This leak confirms our worst fears: ACTA throws out the pretence of justice, fairness, and humanitarianism present at the UN, for pure, naked, crony-capitalism. It's an instrument for allowing entrenched corporations from rich countries change the laws of other countries to their benefit -- and to the detriment of the people of those countries.

It's a hijacking of the world's legislative systems by private interests, abetted by the US Trade Rep.

New ACTA Leaks: Criminal Enforcement, Institutional Issues, and International Cooperation (Thanks, Michael!)

5 Reasons Tablets Suck, and You Won't Buy One

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Memorizing Language / Spelling Techniques?

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Sci-Fi Writer Peter Watts Convicted of Assault

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Lawmakers wnt to limit txt msgs and e-mails

Excelerate Labs Brings A Startup Incubator To Chicago

It seems that Y Combinator and TechStars-like incubators are popping up everywhere. BoomStartup just launched an incubator in Utah and TechStars is expanding to other cities in the U.S., as is The Founder Institute. Chicago has a new incubator that recently launched, called Excelerate Labs.

Excelerate is the brainchild of OKCupid entrepreneur Sam Yagan, Kapil Chaudhary, Kelli Rhee, and Troy Henikoff. Yagan says the Chicago-based incubator has a similar model to TechStars and Y Combinator. Six to ten startups will be chosen for a three month long program, where founders will be given resources to build their products, access to mentors and funding. Each startup will receive anywhere from $15,000 to $20,000 (depending on the number of founders) for five percent of equity.

The program is currently accepting applications until April 2. Yagan says that one of the reasons that we wanted to start the program was to help make Chicago become “the Silicon Valley of the Midwest.” Sandbox Industries and i2a Fund have invested in the incubator, but Yagan says that other venture funds have taken an active interest in Excelerate, including DFJ Mercury. Mentors include TechStars founder David Cohen, OpenTable’s Chuck Templeton, Apex Ventures Partners’ Lon Chow and a host of other notable entrepreneurs and investors.

Groupon directors Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell, also recently launched Lightbank and will invest as much as $10 million annually in early-stage technology companies through a new fund dubbed. Similar to Excelerate, the fund aims to help establish Chicago as a technology hub.

It’s always great to see investors and former tech executives investing time (and money) in promising startups and ideas. And we are seeing a plethora of innovative startups emerging from a variety of incubators around the country and world, including Y Combinator, TechStars, The Founder Institute, Launchbox Digital and more.

Video: The $113.5 million F-35B Lightning II can float in the air for a little bit

There’s a certain amount of pride in seeing a country pump out something like the new F-35B Lightning II fighter jet. At $113.5 million per aircraft, it’s about as far away from the meaning of the word “inexpensive” as possible. It makes you think, well, if we can afford things like that, why can’t we afford things like this? But, whatever. The entire purpose of this post is to watch a legitimately exciting video. So, let’s!

The very first test flight of the aircraft happened yesterday, and lasted 14 minutes long. (Yes, there’s a certain irony in finding out about the latest American military technology in the British press.) That works out to $8.1 million per minute in the air. Granted, that’s a horrible way of looking at the aircraft, but it’s a fun stat nonetheless.

The F-35B Lightning II has been in development since 2001, and it was originally promoted as an affordable option to keeping old birds like the F-16 and F-10A in the air.

The marines will start using the jet, if all goes according to plan, in December, 2012.

And now I’m off to play Battlefield: Bad Company 2, using more terribly expensive weapons to beat up Kirilenko.

Palm Can Still Win: Here Are Five Things They Need To Do

Novell Rejects Hedge Fund’s Offer To Take The Company Private For $2 Billion

New York-based hedge fund Elliott Associates L.P. in a letter to Novell’s board of directors dated March 2 offered to purchase the infrastructure software company for a cash price of $5.75 per share, or $1 billion net of the cash on the company’s books.

Elliott Associates at the time said it already owned 8.5 percent of Novell and wanted to take the company private for $2 billion.

This morning, Novell’s board publicly responded to the letter, deeming the “unsolicited, conditional proposal” from the hedge fund “inadequate”. It’s not hard to see why Novell feels that way: immediately after the initial purchase offer was made, its shares surged as investors hoped for a better bid, and stock value hasn’t decreased much since.

Shares were valued at 5.64 at market’s close on Friday – it was priced 4.20 at the beginning of this year and 4.75 when Elliott made its purchase offer public on March 2.

Unsurprisingly, Novell’s board of directors said it would start looking for alternatives for the company to “enhance stockholder value”, including a sale to another entity, joint ventures, partnerships or a return of capital to stockholders through a stock repurchase or cash dividend program.

Protecting Earth and space from people

Don't muck around in the affairs of planets that are less technologically advanced than yours. Despite how often it gets ignored, Star Trek's Prime Directive is a pretty nice attempt to take a universe brimming with life and figure out how to interact with it in an ethical way.

Unfortunately, the Prime Directive isn't terribly nuanced.

How do we relate to alien life that's as, or more, advanced than us? What if alien life is bacteria—do we still have to leave its home planet alone? How do we explore the galaxy without spreading—or picking up—any deadly diseases? The Prime Directive can't really help you here. That's why scientists from NASA and the SETI Institute are boldly going where no bureaucracies (real or fictional) have gone before—drawing up the safety protocols we Earthlings will use as we explore new worlds, and the social and ethical guidelines we'll turn to if we ever do find life on other planets.

It's all part of NASA's Office of Planetary Protection. Home of the Planetary Protection Officer, surely the most awesome job title in the sciences, the OPP has been around since 1967, before the Apollo landings on the Moon and the concept has been around since before NASA was even founded. Originally, the goal was to keep today's science from screwing up the science of tomorrow.

"Even before NASA, before Sputnik, the International Astronautical Federation was pointing out that, when we study space, we need to be careful about not spreading Earth microbes to other planets," said John Rummel, Ph.D., a professor at East Carolina University and two-term former Planetary Protection Officer. "If you do, you might end up studying your own contamination, rather than what's really out there."

The next obvious step: Worrying about the alien microbes we might bring back to Earth. Nobody wants a species-reversed version of War of the Worlds where the human race is accidentally killed off by an interstellar cold bug. Planetary Protection Officers were in charge of setting up quarantine measures for astronauts and rock samples returning from the Moon. Today, they're creating the protocols—and designing the containment facilities—that will be used when we travel to Mars and back.

These protocols are constantly evolving, Rummel said, with the changes based both on science and on societal values.

"In 1992, I canceled a document that allowed the PPO to arrest somebody who was exposed to extra-terrestrial life or material," he said. "That was originally put into place as a stopgap measure in case somebody who was working on lunar return samples got exposed but didn't want to go into the quarantine. But I read a dissertation showing how this provision wasn't in accordance with the Constitution. I found that disturbing."

The social side-effects of exobiology are every bit as important as the tech details, according to Margaret Race, an ecologist at the SETI Institute who works on planetary protection and risk communication.. With the help of a grant from NASA's Astrobiology Institute, Race put together a 2009 conference on the social and ethical implications of extraterrestrial life. She's trying to spark conversations that reach researchers in disciplines outside of the astrobiology community.

"Carl Sagan asked: If Mars has life, even if it is just microbial, does Mars belong to the martians?" she said. "This question has ethical, legal, cultural and theological implications ... and those are not what scientists study."

To remedy that, Race is working to build a loose network of space scientists, anthropologists, ethicists, legal experts, theologians and others. The goal is to make sure that ethicists have their science correct, and that scientists are aware of the ethical implications of their work. If we do this now, she hopes, mankind may be able to avoid repeating some of the mistakes we made while exploring our own planet—like careless overuse of natural resources or large scale environmental destruction.

We can start, she says, by learning from earthly examples.

"I'm working on a paper right now comparing the international treaties concerning outer space with those that cover the Antarctic," she said. "The Antarctic Treaty has established regulations that deal with environmental management and commercial activities like fisheries, tourism, oil, gas and mineral exploration. With growing commercial and private interests in space, we need to include experts from many different disciplines as we develop guidelines for human activities beyond Earth. Now is the time to think about the costs, benefits and potential impacts of our plans, particularly if we share this universe with other life forms--however simple or advanced they may be."

Image courtesy Flickr user x-ray_delta_one, via CC

Hot gaming news for the week of 3-14-2010

Section:

No need to scour the interwebs for hot gaming news, Gamertell‘s already done that for you!  Here’s a look at this week’s top stories…

• Gamertell Review: Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver with Pokewalker for DS
• Opinion: Apple’s iPad may simply fail
• Send your RROD Xbox 360 out in style - in a coffin
• Deal of the Day: WiiMote steering wheel for $0.75 (or $2.75)
• Exclusive Yellow Forest Pokéwalker route coming April 2010

Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Weekend Giveaway: A Kindle from @bravotv

Do you like Bravo? Sure you do. Well Bravo sure likes you and they want to give you a standard Kindle (Kindle 2, not the DX) to one lucky commenter. How do you win? Well heck, I’m glad you asked.

All you have to do is comment or retweet this post to the world. Either/or. It’s a random thing, baby.

Why are they giving you a kindle? Here:

Bravo achieved major success in the digital sphere last year, and they broke new ground in social media by creating the first ever virtual viewing party, a multiplatform, live viewing experience. It allowed viewers to interact on social media outlets during their favorite show like “Real Housewives of New York City” and “Top Chef.” The success of these viewing parties attracted over 1 million page views, saw double-digit growth in audience engagement, and created sponsorship opportunities for the network.

Now, Bravo plans on expanding on its success by creating weekly live viewing parties called the Bravo Talk Bubble. The site, BravoTalkBubble.com, launched on 3/18, and they will start the first viewing party on March 25 during a new episode of “The Real Housewives of New York City”. They will also deploy an innovative, new Twitter integration.

To help promote this Talk Bubble, we’re giving away ONE Kindle to your readers.

Fair enough, right? Who doesn’t want a Kindle? We’ll pick a winner on Monday at noon New York Time.

The Perils of Plastics

Scientists: Women Do Make Men Throw Caution to the Wind

Eva Longoria Parker to Celebrate AT&T $1 Million Total Donation to PADRES Contra El Cancer

UPDATE 2-Bharti board oks $9 bln offer for Zain Africa-Bloomberg

'Metabolic Taxation' Responsible for Animal Growth Rate

Novell's Board of Directors Rejects Elliott Associates' Unsolicited, Conditional Proposal as Inadequate

Nintendo's Miyamoto wants Wii in schools - TG Daily

New York Daily News

Nintendo's Miyamoto wants Wii in schools TG Daily Shigeru Miyamoto, the man responsible for creating Mario, says his next big project is getting people to use the Nintendo Wii as an educational tool. It's the latest push from the company to go beyond the typical video game realm. ... Shigeru Miyamoto "devoting" himself to getting the Nintendo DS in schoolsGamePro.com Nintendo to convert its DS consoles into educational toolsThe Money Times Nintendo hardware in the classroom? Why not?ZDNet (blog) ABC News -Platform Nation -Nintendo World Report all 332 news articles »

BOOM! Top Apple news for the week of 3-14-2010

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We may not cover Apple 24x7… but we know someone who does!  Here’s a few of this week’s hottest from Appletell to get you started…

• Appletell reviews the Just Mobile Gum Plus Power Pack
• Appletell reviews the Gorillamobile for iPhone 3G and 3GS
• Appletell reviews the Just Mobile Lounge cradle
• iPhone and iPod touch apps to take on the camping trip
• Ten games I most want to play on the iPad (Part 1)

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Review: 'Hubble 3D' Takes You on Beautiful, Brief Space Journey

Week in gaming: PlayStation Move, Metro 2033, pole dancing - Ars Technica

Brisbane Times

Week in gaming: PlayStation Move, Metro 2033, pole dancing Ars Technica What a week! Post-GDC we share our thoughts on the PlayStation Move after playing with a bunch of the games Sony showed the press, we are pleasantly surprised by a top-down Tomb Raider title, ... GameStop: PS3, Wii shortages to continueCNET Sony Mocks Wii, Xbox 360 in PlayStation Move AdPC World PlayStation Move ad rips Wii, Xbox 360's NatalUSA Today GameSpot -BusinessWeek -Christian Science Monitor all 312 news articles »

Integrating Ethics Into The Core Of Your Startups: Why And How

When I came to the U.S. in 1980, I was young and naïve. I used to think that corruption and ethical lapses were just a third-world ill. Eventually, I became a tech CEO and learned the harsh realities of American business. Yes, standards are much higher, and breaches are punished, but the temptations are just the same here as they are in any other country. Ethical lapses (which are a form of corruption) are quite common.  You watch stories about these on TV every other day and read about them on TechCrunch.  It was the ethical lapses of our financial institutions that threw our economy into a tailspin, and for which we are paying the price, after all.

It is best to be aware of the temptations and to prevent the lapses from occurring. As Enron, Bernie Madoff, and Lehman Brothers have shown, it’s a slippery slope. Once you start compromising your values for short-term gains, there is no turning back. Business ethics are not something you need to start worrying about when your company reaches a certain size; they need to be sewn into the fabric of your startup from the get-go. The lessons are the same for tech businesses as they are for investment banks and for third-world economies.

Harvard Business School professor Michael Beer researched the difference between companies that perform at high levels for extended periods and those that implode when they reach a certain size. When analyzing the spectacular failures in the recent financial meltdown, he found that:

• Of the original Forbes 100 (named in 1917), 61 had ceased to exist by 1987.  Of the remaining 39, only 18 stayed in the top 100, and their return during the period 1917 to 1987 was 20% less than that of the overall market.

• Of companies in the original Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index of 1957, only 74 remained in 1997; of these, only 12 outperformed the S&P 500 in the period 1957 to 1998.

• The average CEO tenure in the U.S. is 4.2 years, less than half the 10.5-year average in 1990.

Beer posited three core reasons for the failure of so many Wall Street firms in the fall of 2008: the firms lacked a higher purpose (in other words, they were focused on short-term gains, profits, and bonuses); they lacked a clear strategy; and they mismanaged their risk. Companies like Charles Schwab and US Bancorp were able to avoid the fallout by having a laser-like focus on customer service and on honesty and transparency. Neither company touched the subprime mortgage securitization market, because they saw it as risky and simply not the kind of business that served the company’s long-term interests.

Even outside Wall Street, companies like Cisco Systems, Southwest Airlines, and Costco Wholesale, with the strongest sense of higher purpose, achieved the greatest success. Take Costco. Wall Street analysts have long chastised Costco’s management for paying high wages and keeping employees around for a long time, because this results in higher benefits costs. But the company’s CEO, Jim Sinegal, lives by his belief that keeping good employees is strategic for Costco’s long-term success and growth. The company’s per-employee sales are considerably higher than those of key rivals such as Target and Wal-Mart; customer service at the stores is phenomenal and fast; and Costco continues to expand, both in number of warehouses and in products and services for business and consumer customers. The culture of the company flows downward from Sinegal and his focus on employees and, by extension, to customers.

One of the problems that Beer found with the failed banks was that their employees lacked the ability to “speak truth to power”. Employees felt intimidated by superiors; the institutions’ internal voice of conscience and purpose was silenced by a maniacal focus on short-term profits and whatever scheme would bring them in. The silencing of employees who sought to challenge strategy and risk-management practices likely also undermined the banks’ moral authority and emboldened those who already felt inclined to do the wrong thing. With a muted internal voice, these organizations lacked a moral compass. As a result, they drove off a cliff with astonishing speed.

The same things happen in Silicon Valley companies.  I asked management guru — and head of the CEO Institute of Yale School of Management — Jeff Sonnenfeld for his advice on how startups can sow the seeds for building a Cisco or Costco. Here is Jeff’s advice:

1)  Create a culture of openness and welcome dissent – Internal constructive critics are your best friends — too often, founders are blinded by their own enthusiasm for their creative vision and then are surrounded by sycophants, kissing up. Founders who fall out of touch rapidly lose their ethical bearings. At Intel, founder Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore did not look for sycophantic followers in selecting the brilliant, contentious, but relentlessly honest Andy Grove as their colleague and successor. Similarly, Craig Barrett and Paul Otellini have consistently fought for different points of view internally — without undermining the enterprise, and always reinforcing Intel’s self-critical core ethic.

2)  Lead by example.  The authenticity of the leader’s character is essential — if colleagues don’t believe you, they will not take needed risks on your behalf — such as training subordinates to be able to do their own jobs.  Startups are often defined by the hip clichés of VC firms, adoring press, and HR consultants — but the startups don’t really practice what they preach.

3)  Learn from immediate peers or distant models. Too often, founders atrophy because they believe that the unique quality of their business or technological mission means that they too are truly unique in leadership values.  Steve Jobs has patterned himself after Polaroid founder Ed Land — and tried to learn from Land’s strengths and weaknesses.  Henry Ford regretfully once claimed “History is bunk” but in reality revered Thomas Edison.  Michael Dell put legendary tech entrepreneur (Teledyne) and educator Dr. George Kozmetsky on his board right from the start to learn from this brilliant then septuagenarian.

4)  Recognize your own fallibility as a leader, know your limits, and beware of the myth of immortality.  Entrepreneurs often are horrified at the thought of leadership succession. The founders of great firms such as Google, Cisco, Amgen, and Microsoft have known that they would need to prepare for a day when they no longer could be the lone day-to-day internal boss, primary external ambassador, and symbolic cultural icon. The founder of the original (pre-Starbucks) coffee house chain Chock-Full-o-Nuts started his first café on Broadway 43rd Street in 1923 and was a great national success.  Sadly, sixty years later, as a dying man who had been flat on his back for two years at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, he still clung to the job of leader of the enterprise, his full-time physician serving as acting president.

5)  Remember that institutional character — like a liquid cupped in your hand — is fragile; easily lost; and hard, if not impossible, to regain. Egomaniacal moves, personal grandiosity, greed, and deception create impressions that are hard to erase.  Whole Foods founder, John Mackey, sabotaged the integrity of his own exalted brand, damaging the company’s internal pride and customer admiration far more badly than any competitor could have, due to his self-inflating and his misleading “anonymous” blogging, hiding his identity through an anagram of his wife’s name, “rehodab.”

I’ll add another very important point: Establish an independent board. Venture firms often demand a majority of board seats as a condition for their investments. Conflicts invariably arise. The board begins to serve the needs of VCs and management, rather than of the company itself, which loses the independent voice to warn it not to do the wrong things. The inconvenient truth is that all board members have a fiduciary duty to act in the interests of the company, and not in their own interests. Board members must not engage in transactions in which they or their partners stand to gain. They are legally required to avoid these conflicts of interest.

Finally, remember that in business, you have to make tough choices at every juncture. Though business decisions usually have clear consequences and outcomes, ethical decisions are always hard. Making the right choice doesn’t always bring success, but ethical lapses almost always lead to failure. No matter what the consequence, doing what’s ethical and right is always the better long-term strategy.

Editor’s note: Guest writer Vivek Wadhwa is an entrepreneur turned academic. He is a Visiting Scholar at UC-Berkeley, Senior Research Associate at Harvard Law School and Director of Research at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization at Duke University. Follow him on Twitter at @vwadhwa.

The Macalope Weekly: Familiar territory (Macworld.com)

'iPad Killer' May be Palm's Last Hope (PC World)

Palm now worth nothing

Shares of Palm (PALM) plunged 19% to $4.59 a share early Friday, a new 52-week low. Investors are becoming increasingly pessimistic about the company's future and several analysts downgraded their positions on the stock to "sell." Two analysts even lowered their price targets to $0.

Palm now worth nothing

Woof. Analysts have placed a sell rating on Palm and are now valuing their stock, at least in hyperbolic terms, at $0. Quoth CNN:

Shares of Palm (PALM) plunged 19% to $4.59 a share early Friday, a new 52-week low. Investors are becoming increasingly pessimistic about the company’s future and several analysts downgraded their positions on the stock to “sell.” Two analysts even lowered their price targets to $0.

Josh Topolsky has some advice for a turnaround but I don’t think even that sprightly elf-man can help this company in distress. The dream, as they say, is dead.

Before and after

At some point we’ll probably just ingest our memory cards.

via Reddit

Nintendo Creator Hopes to Find Niche in Classrooms

Palm Reports Lower Sales

Free apps roundup for March 19th, 2010

FROM APPLETELL - I hope you like games, because that’s what’s hot on the App Store this week. They’re pretty diverse, from a first person shooter to a Tetris wannabe.
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